OPEN MIC ARCHIVESEPTEMBER, 1997

I pressed the questionto the churn, I lifted up her
veil.I saw the danger in her eyesflatly cold,
pail.

Pushed her through the open window,with wings, but
she could fly.I found that hell is never farI found
that I could lie.

VANRE10583@aol.com

~*~

Nocturnal Retrospective

We spent the nightIn each other's arms Beautiful
were the sightsBeneath the sinking sun

We spent the nightThinking of new waysTo make our
love become wholeWithout the threat of haze

We spent the nightLike a pair of pure white
dovesWho, meeting in flight,Fall completely in
love

But now the night is overThe sun's risen once
againOne more day to be your loverFor ever and a
day

~*~

Eat my brain, Kill my pain

Wash all my troubles down the drain

Let the red flood wash away the hurt

Keep your composure, wear it like a shirt

Never let them know your hate

Confine them to a terrible fate

Greed and lust Hunger and Pain

That'll be thier only gain

Sing with me this last refrain

Let me die to live again.

~*~

Goodbye

Goodbye

I hate you

You lied

You said you loved me

You, you, egh, you

That's how I'd describe you

Egh

You cheated

You used me

I hate you

Goodbye

This is what I say every day

But, not to a man or guy but to myself.

By Zoe

~*~

Rain or pain

serenity remain

If life contains love

By Gerald Al LeBlanc, Sr.

this is my original work

~*~

(Untitled - Two Tankas)

I

The Evening News

Spin-Drys polyester tears

Seg-Way to Seg-way

Drizz'ling sound bytes honey-like

Upon dazzle-hungry ears

II

The welcome stranger

And the soon forgotten friend

Are now forever

The sound of one hand clasping

The echoes of the other

~*~

THE SPARROW

I am made by God, fed by God,

and cared for by him

I soar like a plane over oceans & mountains,

over treetops & houses.

I travel from one place to another with

the wind under my wings.

I fly with a freedom those in captivity only

dream about.

I watch the sunsets & sunrises from

atop the church steeples.

Then I place my head beneath my wings,

and rest.

For I know God is watching over me.

~*~

Poem to a Reader

I am afraid of you

you who read this

you that are not image

of my own. I have nothing.

I live with your eyes.

Who are you to know

what I feel? Who

am to hear?

We are the only ones

who know me now.

Reading you sing my voice.

I sleep with your notes.

I know the color of your eyes.

~*~

THE INACCESSIBLE KING: BY M. 15

A SILKEN WORLD

CALLING FOR ME

YEARNING FOR ME

PAST AND AWAY

WAS IT ONCE THERE?

I FEEL YOU INSIDE ME

I FEEL YOUR YOUTH

I FEEL YOUR TOUCH

SATIN TOUCHES OF YOUR WORDS

NOT KNOWING IF THEY WERE EVER SPOKEN

WHITE PASSIONS BURN BETWEEN OUR TIMES

COME TO ME

I NEED TO FEEL YOU, TOUCH YOU

SLIDE PAST THE TIMES

I CAN'T SEEM TO REACH YOU

I'M GIVING YOU MY HAND

TOUCH IT, HOLD IT

I REACH FOR YOU

SLIDE PAST THE TIMES

~*~

Love comes but only once

I seen it,

And it's seen me.

Together we met,

And parted on harsh.

I regret what I said,

And wish we could go back.

But I must move on,

For love somes but only once.

For after once,

It moves on,

Unless can you grasp on.

For then you are lucky,

Because true love is hard to keep.

~*~

True love is fast,

Yet so slow.

True love is easy,

Yet harder the more you know.

True love is quiet,

Yet gets louder the further you go.

Stick with true love,

For it will stick to you.

~*~

You see me happy,

Although there is pain inside.

You hear me laugh,

When I cry inside.

I hide my pain,

For I know you have moved on.

I love you still,

Always 'N' Forever.

~*~

DOORWAY

CHRISTOPHER LUDTKE

THERE WAS A MAN STANDING AT THE CORNER,

NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO OR WHAT TO SAY,

HE KNEW IN HIS HEART WHAT HE HAD BECOME,

BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOU ALONE,

YOU WERE HIS REASON FOR LIVING AND FOR DYING,

DEATH IS NOT FEAR BUT A DOORWAY TO THE UNKNOWN.

~*~

go away, i miss you too much

i hate you for the way you make me feel

can't you see i'm bleeding

~*~

i paid for skin and moonlight

with our friendship

and now its more

than i can afford

~*~

this isolated eclipse

came from our selfish desires

i used to be the only one

who understood

now talking to you is a joke

and you wont even tell me why

~*~

There is nothing wrong with me.

I simply stand in a darker forest,

look up to taller trees.

I fall from greater hights.

***************************

I must have sounded so prophetic,

the words just rolled like days.

It is death who watches everyman,

so lustfull in his gaze.

Mike Van Rensselaer

~*~

CIRRUS SUNSET

bleeding heart of stone

submerged in a pool of love

ripples stain the sky

~*~

The stars of love Version # 2

Late at night I sit and stare...

Staring at the stars of love....

And late at night I sit and think...

What I see saddens me....

A love lost and forgoten...

A star shining like a tear missplassed....

Fallen from a lovers heart....

And I think of what there used to be....

When we would sit together.....

Staring.....

At the stars of love...

~*~

Beach, Night

Lock-step we fall

toward the sand, the

water urges, pulse

of the defeated sun

threading in the sand.

We, curled in the feather

of each wave,

cadence,

breathe in the seam of

the measureless sea and

the immured slope.

Little shells.

~*~

Write!

inside of me are words

hopes

dreams

agonies

longing to come out

yet confined to hell

by the rules of another man's skill.

who cares how you write

as long as you do.

who cares what you speak

as long as you try.

don't let the pain of confinement

let the words dry up

let them out

if only to live and breathe

as they should-

for you.

~*~

Writer's Block

I sit here,

Hands poised on home row

Anticipating the thought

That never comes.

I stare at the blank screen,

Searching for inspiration

In the eye-watering whiteness,

And realize I need to dust it.

~*~

Writer's Rebellion

Visions of castle doors

Locked up by meter.

Free verse

Collects in my soul

Like puddles of molten lava.

Can this be true-

An acre of grain

Held to one line,

perhaps two

if the syllables are correct?

Do dreams come out that way?

In form and counted word?

Let no man

Hold you back

From dreaming

In Cinemascope.

~*~

as i watch you melt

i pray to be awakened from this dream.

i scream and scream but my cries are not heard

while i watch your heart disintegrate.

then i slowly look up to see what's left,

but all i see is agonizing pain.

i close my eyes to soon find out

when i open them

i see a mirror.

~*~

3.2 blonde children play

beside trailered boats on streets

named Dogwood and Locust

suburban haiku

concrete images

alX

~*~

ODE TO DOROTHTY PARKER

Oh Dorothy - you woman ahead of your time.

Wit and witticism, biting words of envy,

caustic in every sharp line.

The round table rested your haughty head,

surrounded by your friends and foes

who juicily swallowed all you said.

Oh Dorothy - such venom for one so smart.

Some may call it trash and kitsch.

I tend to call it art.

~*~

First Kiss

Swallowed into the darkness

Lost in the mist

Hidden under a rock

Never to be seem again

Mixed into a memory

Lost inside a dream

Erroided into a river

To float out of a mind

~*~

Riding shotgun

Spoils of war

I got hit

Bullets through the door

The brothers got down

But I bit the ground

My colures went red

And now I'm dead

So much for shotgun

Poor choice of doors

Was my first thought

Wish I'd taken another

Wish it'd been a brother

But who's the real loser

This game had gone to shit anyway

I was thinking I'd overstayed

I got out before it got worse

Who knows what's next

But it's gotta be better

No matter, whatever

~*~

DARK RAIN:

Dark Rain

With much pain

No one to care

No one to share

Stories untold

Much to unfold

Hearts broken

Lives stolen

Nothing to show for the pain

Except the Dark Rain

~*~

EVERY DAY WE MOURN DOGS THAT DIE!! SO WE TRY TO GROW
WING"S TO FLY. "BUT STILL WE MOURN THEM DOGS THAT
DIE!! IM GOING TO GROW WING"S SO THAT I CAN FLY. THEN I
WON'T HAVE TO MOURN DOGS THAT DIE!!!! R.J.M.